Come Back To Me
by tvfan69
Summary: Carter Hall is dead, but he still reincarnates. So it's only a matter of time before the team finds his latest form, only not in the way they would've expected.
1. Chapter 1

It was their first mission into the future, and Kendra couldn't tell if it was going right or wrong.

Most of the team was out working a lead on Savage, but she and Jax had been left behind because Jax was currently sick with the flu and since her skills weren't necessary to the mission she had been asked, or rather ordered by Rip, to stay behind and take care of him. They had gone ten years into their own future, the year 2026, but had gone to a backwater no-name town so it didn't excite anybody all that much. That being said Kendra was very grateful for the small town because Jax had all but begged her to go find him some soup and because of the town's small size finding the supermarket was relatively easy. She went in and wandered around the store until she found the isle with soup and she just had to laugh upon recalling Jax's request.

 _"I don't know what cartoons kids are watching now, but if you can find that soup with the shape noodles that'd be great."_

Lucky for him character soup still appears to be popular amongst children and she managed to find some familiar Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles among the shapes, though she did briefly consider buying the Princess one as a joke. Shaking her head she placed three cans of soup into her basket but as she did she got a strange feeling that someone was watching her.

Looking up she found she was right, someone indeed was watching her. But he wasn't the kind of person she would've expected. He was a young boy, nine, maybe ten, years old. He stood at the near end of the isle, half hidden behind a discount bin. He had shaggy, light brown hair that was almost getting in the way of his blue-green eyes, and he had what appeared to be a healing black eye.

Once he realized that he had been spotted the boy pulled back and ducked into the next isle. Kendra knew that she shouldn't do this, it's not like this child wasn't some creep stalking her. But thing is, the store was relatively empty. There wasn't another adult, as far as Kendra could tell, anywhere near the child. Besides something, some little voice in her head, was prompting her to talk to the child. So she walked around the store, acting as if she were looking for something, and every time she stopped she observed that the boy wasn't far behind. Finally, when she had spent an extra half hour in the store and was running out of places to stop, she came to a halt in the frozen section with the boy lurking just around the corner.

"Did you lose your mom?" She finally asked, although she had to fight to keep her face stern when she heard the boy jump in the next isle, obviously surprised she addressed him.

"Sorry," he murmured sheepishly, slowly dragging himself around the corner with red cheeks and downcast eyes.

"Don't be sorry, but you've been following me for almost a half hour and I need to go but before I do I want to make sure you're not hoping I'll let you use my phone or something." She explained gently and the boy shook his head.

"No ma'am," he replied, "I'm sorry," he continued and although she should've left Kendra instead found herself crouching down to the boy's height.

"Are you ok?" She asked him, that little voice in her head was still nagging her and at the very least she could reason that this child had been following her without ever making contact with any other adult; something was definitely up.

"You look like her," He finally said, Kendra just looked at him confused.

"Who do I look like?" She asked, "Your mom?" She continued the question but the boy shook his head. "Who?" She asked but he only shook his head again.

"You'll think I'm crazy," he warned and she couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"Trust me kid I have seen more than my fair share of crazy," she told him and he laughed a little. "Now come on, who do I look like?" She asked again gently.

"The eagle lady," he answered and at first Kendra thought maybe he was comparing her to some future television character, but then he continued. "She's this lady that I see when I dream, and sometimes she has wings and an eagle mask. But other times she just looks like a normal person, and she looks a lot like you." He explained and as he did a theory came to Kendra's mind, but it was too impossible. "Told ya you'd think I'm crazy," the boy continued with a frown when she said nothing in response.

"No, no I don't think you're crazy." She immediately assured the boy, instinctively placing her hands on his shoulders for a split second before she yanked them back. "I think it's very sweet that you think I look like a lady you dream about," she continued, "What's the eagle lady's name?" She asked and the boy shrugged.

"I don't know," he said before he smiled again, "She's really nice though, but sometimes she asks me to come back to her so I think that maybe, maybe she's my mom." He explained, his face falling as he did. As he spoke Kendra realized what such a belief meant, but she decided it was probably best not to comment. Besides, she was far too distracted by what this woman said to him in his dreams; her last words to Carter. "That's why I was following you," he admitted, looking very guilty, "I'm sorry." He said again.

"Don't be sorry, what's your name kid?" She asked him, although she wouldn't push if he didn't tell her.

"Nicholas," he replied and Kendra gave him a sweet smile.

"Well Nicholas, this eagle lady sounds like she misses you very much and I'm sure you'll find her someday." She assured him and he smiled a sweet and happy smile.

* * *

"Man, I was starting to think you got lost." Jax croaked when Kendra finally arrived back at the Waverider. They had a small common room just before the bridge and in that common room the sick hero was currently lying on the couch surrounded by a trash bag of used tissues and cough drop wrappers.

"Sorry," Kendra replied distractedly as she made her way over to the single burner they had on the small stove and began preparing the soup, despite Jax's earlier claims that he would make it himself.

"Hey, are you ok?" The younger man asked, noticing how spooked his friend appeared to be.

"Yeah," she said maybe a little too quickly, "yeah I'm fine, it's nothing." She assured him.

"Ok well, do you want me to make the soup?" He asked, he was grateful she had gotten it for him and it just didn't feel right to ask her to make it too, it's not like she had volunteered to stay behind and take care of him.

"No, I got it." She said and figuring she might need a distraction from whatever was on her mind Jax said nothing more but a thank you to her.

* * *

"So how was your day?" Leonard asked of Kendra later on after he and the others had returned. With the exception of Jax who was still on the couch, and Rip who was in his office with the door open, the entire team was hanging out in the bridge. They're mission today hadn't been more than a dead end on Savage and a lot of fighting thanks to Mick accidently getting on the wrong side of some very violent people.

"Boring," Kendra replied as Sara came strolling over, the assassin who was more than capable of reading the masked faces of just about everyone, and Kendra was no master when it came to wearing a mask.

"Come on you have to have done something besides wait on Jax," she prompted, knowing that her teammate had done something that she wasn't talking about. She stopped and stood with her hands on her hips as she glared down at Leonard.

"You're in my seat," she informed him; of course she didn't need his smirk to tell her that he was well aware of this fact.

"Sit somewhere else Blondie," he said and Sara shrugged,

"Suit yourself," she muttered before planting herself on his lap, "So come on, you didn't have any crazy adventures in 2026?" She asked more directly and Kendra sighed.

"Ok I know this sounds crazy but… I think I saw Carter." She confessed and she was right about one thing, everyone looked at her like she was crazy.

"What like a zombie?" Mick finally questioned but Kendra shook her head.

"No like his next incarnation," she explained, "I went to the store to get Jax some soup and there was this little boy there, watching me. Finally he told me that I look like this eagle woman that he see's in his dreams, and in his dreams she tells him to come back to her. That's the last thing I said to Carter." She admitted,

"Ok but Carter died when we were in the seventies," Ray pointed out.

"Yes but in order to avoid a paradox it's possible that his spirit was reincarnated back in present day, and considering we've gone ten years into our own future… Kendra how old was this boy?" Stein asked; one could almost see the gears turning in his head.

"Nine or ten," Kendra answered,

"Alright hang on, what was his name?" Mick asked,

"Nicholas," she said,

"There you go, not Carter." He said and just about everyone had to stop themselves from face palming, except for Stein who apparently lacked the self-control to do so.

"Their names are not the same in every life," Rip explained to Mick as he came speed walking in as he always does. "But professor Stein may be right, because you and Carter reincarnate in one way or another he already existed in the seventies and so when we brought our Carter back and he, was killed, the time stream could've easily been damaged but repaired itself be reincarnating Carter into the nearest time period in which he did not yet exist, which after his death would be 2016." He explained,

"So what?" Ray asked, "This Carter is a ten-year-old boy, he has a life and a family and Kendra's the only one who can kill Savage anyway so it's not like we need him." He pointed out before turning to Kendra. "Look I know you loved him-"

"No," she cut him off, "You're right, we can't drag him into this." She agreed and Ray nodded in agreement.

"I thought your destiny's were intertwined," Leonard stated more than said, clearly he didn't want this opportunity for a fight among the team to go to waste.

"I don't care, we're not dragging a kid into this." She stated firmly,

"Fine we'll just go another ten years into the future and pick him up when he's twenty." Sara said and it was very hard to tell if she was kidding or not.

"No," Kendra said again, "I needed Carter to teach me how to use my powers and about my past; if we were to bring Nick here then I'd be teaching him on top of trying to keep him safe, not to mention I wouldn't even know how to teach him." She continued, she's still struggling to get a handle on trying to figure out things for herself; she'd never be able to help Nick.

"So we're shortening his name now?" Leonard teased but the glare Kendra sent him, though it didn't intimidate him, told him not to push her patients further.

"Ok so it's settled, frankly I'm very happy to hear that for once you people want to leave well enough alone," Rip said before anyone could try reconsidering the issue.

"Says the guy who stole a time machine," Sara smirked as Rip left the bridge and returned to his office.

* * *

"Can't sleep?" Sara's voice snapped Kendra out of her daze later that night. She had gotten up and started wandering the Waverider, and unsurprisingly she found herself in the bridge.

"Yeah, just one of those nights," She excused but it was obvious that Sara didn't buy it.

"Right," she laughed.

"What about you?" Kendra asked, eager to get the focus off of herself.

"Old nightmares, a lap or two around the Waverider and I'll be good." She brushed off but Kendra only moved closer.

"Anything you want to talk about?" She asked but Sara shook her head.

"Nothing that bad, you thinking about him?" She asked and her friend sighed.

"How can I not?" She asked, "I lost Carter the same day I realized I was in love with him. He died in my arms and I asked him to come back to me, and he did." Now she was close to tears and despite emotions not being her strong suit Sara stepped forward and pulled Kendra into a hug. They were alone, and in solitude was where Sara's inner self seemed to thrive. Not the dark part of her, but the light and loving part that she kept hidden underneath all the darkness. Letting it out was a conscious effort every time, but it was worth it.

"Shh," she said as Kendra began to cry, and it wasn't long before the reincarnated priestess pulled out of the embrace.

"What do I do?" She asked,

"What do you think?" Sara asked her

"I don't know; I mean I was in love with his past life and besides we're talking about taking him in and I don't know how to be a mom." She panicked and Sara just looked at her as if she were crazy, before another thought crossed her mind.

"You don't think he has a family here?" She asked and Kendra nodded as she wrapped her arms around herself.

"He said that he thinks the eagle woman might be, that I might be, his mom." She confessed, "He was alone and he looked pretty beat up, I'm not sure he has much of anyone." She continued as she slumped down into a seat and Sara sighed with a smile.

"Well we know you're not his biological mom but, maybe you could be his adoptive mom." She suggested, taking a seat next to her friend who looked like she was about to object to the idea. "And don't give me that not knowing how to be a mom crap," she said quickly. "Kendra when you found out that Aldus was the son of one of your past lives, you could've rejected him. You didn't remember him and you told him that, you could've chosen not to believe him and honestly I think he would've understood. But you didn't. You brought him here against Rip's orders because you knew what was going to happen to him and you couldn't let it come true-"

"Yeah well it did," Kendra interrupted but Sara wouldn't have it.

"No it didn't," she insisted, "He was going to die in his office alone, no one would know until maybe hours later. But you didn't reject him; you immediately started referring to him as your son, you nearly took Rip's head off when he got hurt, and you stayed with him until he died. Yes he did die, but he didn't die alone." She ranted, "You had every right not to accept Aldus as your son, but you did. You're more than capable of being a mom Kendra, and from what I know you and Carter are always destined to love each other and in my experience at least there's more than one kind of love," She advised, "Ok I'm done," she said and she and Kendra both chuckled.

"You really want me to drag Nick into this don't you?" She asked knowingly

"I just think that you're always going to find each other in one way or another no matter what, and if he's going to be seventeen years younger than you, you might as well raise him." She said with a laugh and Kendra laughed too, but didn't say anything. "At least go find out where he is, make sure he's really better off there." She bargained and Kendra nodded with an accepting smiled.

"Ok, fair enough." She agreed as she stood up, "I'll track him down in the morning,"

"Ok," Sara agreed from her seat but as Kendra left she found herself with one last question. "Kendra?" She asked and her friend turned back, "if my nightmares ever are really bad can I talk to you?" She asked nervously and although Kendra was clearly taken off guard by the question she nodded her head as soon as the words processed.

"Of course," she agreed, and when Sara smiled with gratefulness she turned and continued on her way.

* * *

"Where is Kendra?" Rip demanded the next morning, "I've searched the entire ship and I can't find her anywhere," he continued to complain.

"Well did you check her-?"

"Yes Mr. Palmer I checked her quarters," he interrupted Ray, impatient as always.

"What's it matter? It's not like we're leaving," Leonard said, with Jax sick they couldn't go anywhere for a while.

"On the contrary Mr. Snart," Rip began, more or less annoyed with his team as usual. "Mr. Jackson, though still suffering some ailments, as been cleared by Gideon as healthy enough for time travel and considering we've already been in this time for over a week we really should get moving." He snapped,

"Calm down, she just went to get a coffee." Sara said from where she sat with her legs over one of the armrests of her seat.

"We have coffee!" Rip exclaimed,

"Yeah but it sucks," Mick put in before mumbling something about how he wished Kendra had told them she was going so he could've asked her to bring him back one.

So while his partner in crime was moping and Rip was marching off to inspect their coffee machine Leonard walked over to Sara and crouched down to her height.

"You know something," he whispered in her ear in a singsong voice.

"And I've instructed the computer not to tell you or anyone else," she whispered back smugly.

* * *

Kendra wasn't really out getting coffee, of course. She had used Gideon to help her find Nick, which was very hard to do off of only a first name and a general physical description. But eventually they did find him, in a foster home. That news had sent Kendra's heart into shatters; because here she thought that maybe, just maybe, he had a decent life here. After standing outside of the house for what seemed like forever she finally went up and knocked on the door where a woman who appeared to be in her mid fifties answered the door.

"Hi, um I was hoping that maybe I could talk to you about a boy you foster? Nicholas?" She asked and the woman leaned up against the doorway.

"What about him?" She asked

"I just want to know, is he ok?" She asked and the woman sighed,

"He's fine," the woman replied but before she could say anything else, or tell Kendra to get lost, Nicholas approached the door and upon seeing who was there pushed past his caretaker and hugged the woman on the front steps.

"Chay-Ara!" He exclaimed happily, catching both the women way off guard.

"Hey," Kendra said awkwardly as she detached the young boy from around her waist. "I thought you said-" she began but he happily cut her off.

"I had another dream, she told me her name! Or your name," he explained, clearly more convinced than ever that she was the same woman he had seen in his dreams, not that he was wrong.

"Nicholas," his caretaker snapped and the boy stepped back, "he has a very active imagination." She said apologetically but Nick turned and stomped his foot.

"She is real!" He insisted, clearly not for the first time. "This is Chay-Ara!" He shouted and so with that Kendra got down to the young boy's height.

"Nicholas, Nicholas." She said, trying to get the boy's attention.

"Tell her," he demanded and Kendra sighed.

"I'm sorry but that eagle lady is just a dream." She insisted and Nick looked so heartbroken that Kendra almost wished she didn't have to lie.

"But…" He trailed off.

"I'm sorry," Kendra said again before getting to her feet.

* * *

"Where have you been?" Rip demanded of Kendra once she returned.

"Just out for a walk," Kendra replied distractedly

"Sara told me you went to get coffee?" Rip exclaimed before shaking his head, "Forget it, we've wasted enough time parked in this era. Strap in, we're following a lead on Savage." He instructed as the two of them entered the bridge where everyone else was already secured in their seats. All eyes were on Kendra, as all knew she hadn't really been out getting coffee, but she was silent as she strapped herself in.

"You ok?" Sara asked as her friend passed her.

"Yeah," Kendra replied with a nod of her head.

"Say goodbye to the future everyone, we're going a long way back from here." Rip announced and with that the Waverider took off.

* * *

Upon landing it was business as usual; Rip was rambling about the plan while everyone was nauseous as usual. But strangely, there was another sound coming from off in the distance. It was the sound of crying, and it was coming from the back of the Waverider. The instant she managed to get her restraints off Kendra sprinted to the back room, a sinking pit in her stomach telling her exactly what had happened.

Sure enough when she got there she found Nicholas lying on the floor, holding his head, and sobbing uncontrollably.

"Nick!" She exclaimed as she dropped down next to him, very vaguely she noticed Rip behind her and heard his words.

"Oh you didn't," he muttered

"Nick, Nick what are you doing here?" She asked the boy while ignoring her captain.

"I'm sorry," he sobbed, "I followed you and… and I just thought… I just thought," he sobbed but Kendra was quick to shush him.

"Shh, ok, ok." She said as she reached out brushed Nick's bangs out of his face. "It's ok, it's ok. I'll take you back to the foster home-"

"No! No the other kids there make fun of me!" He cried and Kendra shushed him again.

"I'm sorry to hear that, but you can't stay here." She told him firmly and he began crying even harder.

"Oh for god sake woman you know this is where he belongs, just keep him!" Rip interrupted, finally prompting Kendra to turn around. "Come on Kendra, you two need each other." He said and with that Kendra looked back at the crying boy, then back at Rip, then at Nick again, and then she stood up.

"Do you want to stay?" She asked Nick who just looked at her in surprise. "Do you want to stay?" She asked again and this time he nodded. "Are you sure?" She asked and again Nick nodded.

"Yes," he replied and Kendra smiled.

"Then come on," she said, holding out her hand, which Nick took happily with a smile on his face.

As Kendra led the young boy out of the room Rip stood there and let out a sigh,

"Well, this'll be fun." He said to himself before heading back for the bridge himself, where he found the rest of the team welcoming their newest member.


	2. Chapter 2

Kendra knew raising a child on the Waverider was going to be a challenge, and with Savage constantly on their tale there were times where she wondered if it was even humane. But with her destiny tied to Carter, now Nick, she didn't exactly have a lot of options. Then there was the whole mess of the child she had 'adopted' being the reincarnation of a man whom she had loved throughout multiple lifetimes, but she tried not to think too hard on that. Instead she kept Sara's words in mind, about there being many different forms of love. So far that seemed to be holding true, as she had grown to love Nick in the very same way that she could now remember loving Aldus. He was her son, well not biologically but still. She was the one tucking him into bed every night, they had given him Carter's old room, and the one responsible for making sure that he was fed, clothed, and safe. That being said he is ten years old, so he doesn't need to be constantly at her side every minute of every day.

But when he isn't at her side, she definitely is worried.

It's not like he's separated from her when they make stops, if he weren't by her side in those instances she probably wouldn't be able to focus on the mission at hand. It's when they're docked in the temporal zone or any other time they are simply hanging around the Waverider. He'll wander around the ship looking for places to play and ways to entertain himself, and again he is not a baby so there is no need for him to be joined at her hip during downtime, but he has a habit of getting into trouble once he gets board of playing alone.

The first incident was by far the worst, coming when Kendra and Sara are busy training each other and Nick found himself walking into the galley just as the teams two resident crooks were becoming a little stir crazy themselves. Long story short Nick ended up lost in the ship's network of air vents after the two felons thought it would be beneficial to take it upon themselves to teach the boy some stealth skills.

"In our defense, he didn't tell us he was claustrophobic." Snart had said just after he finished hoisting Sara up into a grate so that she could go rescue the boy.

The second moment to send Kendra into a complete mode of panic that only a parent or babysitter could be capable of falling into started off much more innocent, but ended up being even more disastrous. Where she had been at the time she couldn't say for sure, but she should've seen it coming. After hearing an unusually loud ruckus, even by Waverider standards, coming from the hallway she decided she had better put her book down and investigate. The moment she opened her door was also the moment that a foam football went whizzing past her face, only to be caught by Jax at the end of the corridor. Glancing to the other end of the hall she should've been surprised when she saw that it was her adopted son who had thrown the ball, but she wasn't.

"Hey Kendra," Jax had greeted when he noticed her emerging from her room. "Kid's got a good arm." His face was still beaming as he informed her of what was most likely the reason Nick was smiling from ear to ear and jumping up and down the hall.

"Jax is teaching me touchdowns!" The young boy proudly exclaimed and Kendra couldn't help the smirk that crossed her face.

"Just be careful," she had warned before setting off to leave them to their game.

Yeah… they were not careful. Things got a little out of hand once tackling ended up coming into play and Nick spent the night in the med bay with Gideon healing his concussion while Jax spent the night sulking guiltily in his room.

So yeah, Nick managed to get into just about as much trouble as one would expect a ten-year-old to get into. So far missions hadn't become an issue, but then against they had only been on two and both times Kendra stayed on the ship. She knew that couldn't be a permanent solution, and that sooner or later she would need to take part in an undercover job. She could only hope that when that day came someone, anyone, would be able to remain on the ship and watch Nick so that she didn't have to take him with her into a potentially dangerous situation. Every day she wakes up and prays that today will not be that day, and today isn't that day.

Today is much worse.

They'd spent the past week docked in the temporal zone, no leads on Savage anywhere in history. But after so many days of wondering who would be the first to go completely insane they did manage to pick up a distress call from another time ship; which by the way seemed a hell of a lot like a trap. But Rip decided that they would go anyway and so he took Rory along with both halves of Firestorm with him to board the supposedly distressed ship while leaving Ray in charge of things on the Waverider. For about an hour it was quiet, and at some point all those who had remained on their ship converged onto the bridge. She had been teasing Ray, Nick had been playing quietly off to the side with some toy trucks, and Sara and Snart had been having a conversation of their own. They were all just starting to relax, just starting to think that maybe the distress call wasn't a trap, when a message came through from the other ship.

The man on the other end of the message demanded they surrender the Waverider less they wanted him to murder Rip, and the next thing that any of them knew the emergency lights were flashing and Gideon was instructing them to strap in before the firing began. Kendra kept her eyes fixed on her son beside her as Gideon began the shooting, but he seemed as ok with it as the rest of them.

At least until the other ship started firing back.

He let out a yelp of fear as blast shook the Waverider, and that intensified to near hyperventilating once he noticed that a pipe behind them had burst.

"Hey, hey it's ok." Kendra said, leaning over as best she could while restrained to lay a hand on his cheek. "It's alright, we're alright." She continued, though she was distracted for a moment when she noticed that Ray was now marching past her instead of buckled in at her other side.

"What are you doing?" She called after him.

"If this is anything like a video game, flying a space ship." He replied and she was almost going to shout at him to sit back down, but she then noticed that Sara and Snart were also on their feet and halfway across the room.

"Where are you guys going?" She called after them,

"To deal with the hole in the ship." Sara replied as they left and Kendra pressed her mouth into a firm line out of frustration before turning her focus back to Nick. He was still scared, but now that he saw everyone around him bolting up to help he was trying to lift his own restraints.

"Stay put," She ordered him, one hand flying to his restraints to keep them down as if she actually believed he could lift them.

"But-"

"I mean it," she growled, fighting the same urge to get up and be useful. Everyone had a job right now, and hers was to keep her son safe. If she had to lead that by example and sit still, then so be it.

Nick nodded and obeyed her command, mostly because he was still terrified and had no idea what he would do if he got out of his seat. As another jolting blast shook the Waverider it convinced any remaining rebellion in him to obey his mother and stay put, as well as prompted him to reach around the restraints and grab her hand with both of his own.

Kendra held onto Nick's hands the moment she felt them grab hers, although really she could only hold onto one.

When the attack finally stopped, and Gideon declared that they were very far from the other ship, Kendra finally disengaged her own restraints followed by Nick's.

"Are you ok?" She questioned the instant her son was on his feet; squatting down to his height and running one hand over his face while the other remained clutched in his. "Are you alright?" She repeated the question despite Nick's vigorous nodding.

"I'm ok," He promised her.

"You're sure?" She questioned and in response he nodded again while letting her hand go.

"I'm fine," he insisted and believing that he was Kendra rose back to her full height, trying to shake off the worry that the attack had caused and focus on what was to come next.

One thing that caught her eye was the emergency lights still blinking, and then it hit her; Snart and Sara were still gone.

"I'm going to make sure Snart and Sara are alright," she informed Ray.

"Wait for me!" Nick called after her, which had her spinning on her heel to look at him.

"No, you stay here with Ray." She ordered,

"No! I want to help." The little boy whined with a stomp of his foot and ordinarily Kendra would've threatened to punish him if he didn't listen, especially in a situation like this. But with the Waverider, their home, under attack she also wanted to be able to keep an eye on him at all times.

"Aright," she agreed, "But you need to stay close to me." She stressed the point and Nick nodded, so she looked back at Ray. "We'll be back," she informed him and he nodded at her before going back to driving.

* * *

Getting down to the engine room things only progressed from bad to worse, as they discovered that Snart's gun didn't possess enough power to close the entire hole and with the systems still in distress the doors had locked in order to contain the problem, with the two team members still inside. Apparently there was nothing that Gideon could do to override the protocol, meaning that until the hole was fixed Sara and Snart were trapped in a room that was growing colder by the second.

They rushed back to inform Ray and the acting captain had responded by putting Gideon in charge of piloting while he grabbed his suit and went out into space to fix the hole from the outside. Kendra stayed in contact with him through their earpieces, while Nick remain uncharacteristically quiet. She knew that meant he was scared, and that meant that even when Ray's oxygen levels began plummeting she couldn't panic. She tried keeping him talking, hoping that would be enough to keep him conscious on the other end and avoid three dead teammates. But just as he managed to close the hole he stopped responding to her.

"Ray?" She questioned, Nick snapping to attention when he heard the panic in her voice. "Ray are you there?"

"Sorry," Came a barely murmured response followed by something else that Kendra couldn't make out.

"Ray!" She nearly shouted this time but there was no answer. Thinking fast she spun around to face her son, who was watching her with the utmost attention and worry displayed on his features. "Nick, I'm going to the cargo bay, I need you to go to the engine room. The doors should be unlocked now, I need you to tell Sara and Snart where I am." She instructed and although he looked just as scared as her Nick nodded and took off running just behind her.

* * *

When she found Ray unconscious in the cargo bay she honestly thought he might be dead, and when she had to resort to pounding heavily on his chest in order to try and get his heart going she thought it might be in vain. But then it wasn't, and he came back to her.

"You kids need a moment?" A familiar drawl came from the doorway behind them and there was Snart, alive and smirking. Sara entered behind him; a terrified looking Nick balanced on her hip despite his age. Kendra couldn't help it when she laughed in relief at the sight. The rest of the team may still be MIA, but for the five of them at least the nightmare was over, and they all got out alive.

Then the news got even better. Gideon announced that she had just received a message from Mick, saying that he was on the jump ship after escaping the pirates. It wasn't perfect, they still needed to rescue Jax, Stein, and Rip, but at least someone from the away party was coming back.

"How did he even find us?" Kendra questioned as they headed down the corridor to where the jump ship would dock, Nick coming to her side as Sara set him down.

"Actually I did the flying," Gideon explained, "He received quite a beating at the hands of the pirates." Just as she finished the sound of the jump ship docking could be heard, "That's him now," The AI continued but when the doors opened it was very obvious that something was wrong.

Mick looked almost like a zombie as he stepped into the hall, walking with a nearly dead look in his eyes that had Kendra placing a hand gently on Nick's back as an unsettling feeling began brewing in the pit of her stomach.

"You ok Mick?" Snart was the one to break the silence, and the others knew that something was definitely not right when the burly man didn't tell his partner that he was fine and to shove it.

In fact, Mick didn't respond at all. Just kept walking until he stopped halfway down the hall.

"Boys. Ships all yours." He announced and at his words an entire hoard of time pirates came flooding out of the jump ship with their weapons trained on the crew of the Waverider.

In that moment, as her heart froze in her chest, Kendra realized that the nightmare wasn't over; it was just beginning.


	3. Chapter 3

They stand there, frozen.

Mick is heading the pirates and after a few seconds Snart makes his way to the front of their group.

"What are you doing Mick?" He demanded in order to finally break the silence.

"Getting us home," Mick replied automatically. "Are you in?" He questioned his partner and suddenly all eyes, Legends and pirates alike, fell to Snart as he took another few steps until he was almost standing between the two groups, but not quite.

He drew his gun, confirming Kendra's fears that this was going to end in a fight no matter what.

"Nick," She whispered without taking her eyes off her ice wielding teammate. "Run." She ordered and he whirled his head back around, as if to question her, but that was the exact moment that Snart fired his gun on Mick.

"Run!" She shouted this time, practically shoving her son along with her as they all scrambled for cover from Mick's heat gun and the various pirate weapons.

The pirates followed right after them and it wasn't long before all four members of the team were engaged in various battles at different places in the cramped corridor of the Waverider. Kendra took down as many as she could, probably more thugs than she had ever taken down single handedly, while being painfully aware that Nick wasn't far from her and doing his best to dodge the blasts from the guns that came his way. That boiled her blood even more, that the pirates were shooting at him. The fact that it was her son they were shooting at was more than enough to fuel her rage, but the fact alone that they were actually shooting at a child was the icing on the cake. She was furious, and when she heard a scream of pain and saw her little boy go down that was the last straw. Her sight went red and her wings came out, and suddenly she had a much better understanding of what it must be like for Sara when the bloodlust takes over. She was only snapped out of her haze when Ray appeared before her, the sight of Nick's limp body in his arms enough to bring her back to reality.

"Nick," she said, her voice coated in worry as she retracted her wings and took him. Between Ray and herself the floor was now littered with unconscious time pirates, not a single one was still standing.

"We need to get him to the med bay," Ray declared and Kendra nodded, her mind finally beginning to function somewhat close to properly again.

"I'll go; you make sure someone has Rory contained." She said and while Ray looked as though he wanted to argue he nodded rushed off towards the engine room, while Kendra raced with Nick in her arms as fast as she could.

"Gideon!" She practically screamed the moment that she reached her destination.

"Yes Ms. Saunders?" The AI replied as if nothing were wrong.

"Nick was shot!" She shouted back, almost angry at the computer's inability to understand or feel things such as pain and worry.

There was a moment of quiet after she laid her son onto the medical chair and secured one of the monitor bracelets around his wrist for good measure.

"It appears that Nicholas has been shot by a stun blaster, effectively rendering him unconscious. He should wake up within the hour." Gideon finally declared and at the words Kendra let out a breath of relief.

Thinking about it she wasn't really all that surprised to hear that the pirates hadn't been firing with deadly weapons. After all pirates chase bounties, and no team has a bigger one hanging over their heads than the Legends do. Now that being said she still looked sadly down at Nick's sleeping form, wondering not for the first time if she had really made the right call by allowing him to stay. She'd had Gideon look up his records not long after he came on board, to make sure that she hadn't robbed him of a great life.

She hadn't.

He had been placed in the foster care system at the age of four and since then he had traveled to and from eight different homes. She had noticed that the rate at which he stayed in the homes grew shorter and shorter with each one, and predicted that it was due to his firm belief in "the eagle lady" that this pattern occurred. Gideon wasn't able to predict what might have happened to him had he not been allowed to remain on the Waverider, as history had begun to set with him removed from his place in it, but Kendra doubted things would've gotten much better.

Suddenly, she was pulled from her thoughts when the sound of racing footsteps coming from the hallway made their way to her ears. She looked up in alarm, ready to grab the nearest needle and jab it into the neck of anyone who dare come near her and her little boy. But her worry was for not, as it was Ray who came skidding to a stop in the doorway with a look of pure concern across his face.

"Is he alright?" He asked and Kendra nodded,

"Yeah," she answered, "Yeah he's fine."

"Good," Ray said and for a moment the two of them remained doing nothing but staring at each other. "Uh..." He finally broke the silence; "Rip and the others are back, he wants us all in the library." He informed her and she nodded before sparing a glance over at Nick. "I can tell him you're busy-" he continued when she did this but Kendra shook her head and interrupted his words.

"No," she said firmly, "He'll be fine." She didn't know if she was reassuring Ray or herself or maybe both of them, probably the last one. But she didn't need to ask why Rip wanted them all to report to the library now that he, Jax, and Stein were back. She knew the reason; the team had a traitor to deal with.

* * *

The decision about what to do with Rory turned out to take considerably less time than Kendra had thought it would. They briefly considered bringing him back to 2016 and keeping him permanently in the brig but it was quickly realized that neither option was safe. It was then that Snart declared he would handle it, and there was no arguing with him. Rip touched the Waverider down deep in a forest where it was highly unlikely that anyone would ever find the body, and Snart dragged Rory's unconscious form off to do what he claimed needed to be done.

Ray accompanied Kendra back to the med bay after they landed, both of them quiet as they walked and mentally replayed the conversation from the library.

"Do you think he's going to do it?" Kendra finally asked and Ray sighed at her question.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I mean, I don't know much about either of them but it doesn't take a genius to figure out that they've known each other most of their lives. And I am a genius so…" He trailed off and Kendra found herself laughing despite the situation.

Ray smiled at her; glad he was able to make her laugh after everything that had transpired today. They were quiet again, though in a much more comfortable sort of silence, as they continued on their way to the med bay.

"So, um," Ray nervously began when they were drawing ever closer to their destination. "Nick's going to be ok?" He asked despite already knowing the answer.  
"Yeah," Kendra replied, "Thank you," she quickly continued just as they reached the doorway of their destination. "For grabbing him after he went down, all I did was get angry and-" she began to mumble but Ray interrupted her, knowing where her words were going.

"Hey," he said sternly, stopping her words and earning her attention. "You were protecting him, who knows what could've happened if you didn't?" He asked and Kendra nodded as his word resonated with her. That was something that she loved about Ray, the way that he always saw the good in everything. She opened her mouth to tell him as much, but that was when the sound of a tired groan coming from the open door of the med bay distracted her.

Turning around she saw Nick twisting in his chair as his eyes opened and she rushed to his side without a second thought, Ray right on her heels.

"Hey, it's ok. You're alright." Kendra assured him while crouching down in order to be equal height with him. He appeared to still be scared but she couldn't blame him for that of course, he had been shot with a blaster after all.

"Where are the pirates?" He asked, sitting up only to be gently pushed back down by his mother.

"Their gone, we're safe." She promised him, her hand still on his shoulder as he took a minute to process everything that had happened.

"How did they find us?" He asked and the question nearly broke Kendra's heart, she didn't know to even begin explaining to him what had happened.

But fortunately, or unfortunately maybe, she didn't have to. Someone else had apparently heard the question and the knock on the open door alerted her, Ray, and Nick to the visitor's presence.

Standing in the doorway was none other than Snart.

He looked different than he normally did, and although Kendra and Ray probably should've expected as much it still threw them both for a loop. His eyes were clear but the lines on his face made it apparent that he had been crying. He wasn't lounging against the wall like normal either, but instead was standing just off of the wall with his hands shoved into his pockets. He looked almost nervous, which was a word that no Legend ever believed could be used to describe Leonard-cool under pressure-Snart. Yet right now it seemed to be the only appropriate one.

An exchange of glances between the three adults confirmed that he had taken care of Mick as he promised he would.

"Can I come in?" He asked, how un-Snart like he was acting was almost unnerving, but after what had just happened seeing his usual demeanor just might have been worse.

Kendra nodded at his request and he did the same in thanks before he strode in slowly and approached Nick's chair. Nick, starting to get the feeling that something wasn't right, moved to sit up but stopped when Snart held out a hand and signaled him to do so. The thief crouched down and took Kendra's spot next to the boy's face, wringing his hands together for a minute as he tried to think of how one could possibly explain a team member's betrayal to a child.

"Are you alright Nick?" He finally asked and Nick nodded in response but said nothing. "Good," He mused to himself before taking a breath and then finally looking the boy in the eyes. "I'm glad you're ok, and I'm sorry you got hurt-"

"It's not your fault," Nick interrupted and Leonard nodded in acknowledgment of his words, though he wasn't too inclined to believe them.

"Not directly," he half-agreed, "But… do you remember how Mick and I used to be bad guys?" He asked and behind him Kendra's brows knitted together in confusion while Ray's eyes went slightly wider than usual; neither of them had ever heard Snart refer to his criminal activities in a past tense.

"Hm-hm," Nick murmured with a nod of his head, unlike his mother and her friend he didn't find anything about the statement even the least bit odd.

"Well I was wrong," Snart bluntly continued and now Nick looked confused.

"What do you mean?" He asked,

"I mean," Snart sighed, "That Mick still wants to be a bad guy, and we had a fight about it. He decided to stop talking to me and, being stubborn, I stopped talking to him. After part of the team went to check out the other ship today Mick decided to team up with the pirates, so that he could keep being a bad guy. Maybe if I had talked to him he wouldn't have done that, and then you and Sara wouldn't have gotten hurt. So I'm sorry."

"Sara?" Ray asked but the look Snart sent him over his shoulder prompted him not to ask anything further, clearly the possibly reformed crook felt bad enough about it already.

"Mom said the pirates are gone," Nick, now sitting up on the chair, brought Leonard's attention back to him. "Did Mick go with them?" He asked and Len sighed.

"Yeah," he admitted, "He went with the pirates."

Nick looked to be very upset by the answer, not that anyone could blame him. What he had been told about Mick's past was that he used to be a thief before Rip recruited him, the same as Snart. To Nick's still innocent mind everyone on the team was a hero, and not even the two convicted felons had ever had the heart to tell him that wasn't exactly the case. So to hear of Mick's betrayal was especially hard for Nick to process because ultimately he felt as though he had been lied to. Because of this, Kendra was expecting him to deny Snart's claim, or demand an explanation as to why Mick would do something like this. What she wasn't expecting was for him to slide his way off the chair so that he could stand directly in front of Snart, or for him to wrap his arms around the larger man's shoulders in a hug.

Clearly Snart hadn't been expecting this either, considering he all but froze up in the boy's embrace before returning it. But he eventually did return it and once he released Nick he straightened up without a word, leaving the med bay with a very confused Kendra and Ray watching his retreating backside.

Kendra looked back at Nick, who was currently fiddling with the bracelet that she had clamped around his wrist, and smiled. She never would've considered Snart a changed man, and maybe he isn't just yet, but maybe she wasn't the only one that Nick was having a positive effect on.


End file.
